1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for phonetizing a data list having text-containing list entries, each list entry in the data list being, or having been, subdivided into at least two data fields, and to a voice-controlled user interface set up to carry out this method.
For voice-controlled user interfaces, it is necessary to phonetize data lists usually present in databases in order to supply the content of the data systems to a voice controller in which a user triggers particular actions by speaking the contents of the data list in the user interface.
A typical field of application, to which the invention also preferably relates, is the use of a voice-controlled user interface in a multimedia unit of a motor vehicle, which may have, in particular, as the voice-controlled user interface, a car telephone and/or a hands-free device of a motor vehicle, inter alia, with the result that the driver of the motor vehicle can use the voice-controlled user interface to set up and conduct a telephone call by stating a name. The voice controller can also naturally be used to control further functions of the multimedia unit. In principle, the invention can preferably be used in voice-controlled interfaces in which text-based data entries can be resorted.
In this case, the data list, which is constructed as a database, for example, may contain, in particular, names from telephone books or contact lists. In this application, the two data fields of the data list are, in particular, the first name and surname, for which a telephone number and/or further contact possibilities or information is/are stored.
Even if the application described above constitutes a preferred application of the invention, the latter is not restricted to precisely this function, however, but rather can also be generally used for voice-controlled user interfaces in which a data list in text form is intended to be phonetized for recognition by the voice controller, each list entry in the data list preferably having at least two data fields.
In a database, the list entry can be stored in a manner already divided into two data fields, for example first name and surname. In another application, the list entry can also be divided into two data fields by means of suitable software.
2. Related Art
As is already conventional in such voice-controlled user interfaces, list entries in a data list are intended to be provided to the voice-controlled user interface for voice recognition in order to be able to identify particular list entries from spoken commands from the user. In a method for phonetizing the data list, which is required for this purpose, a, or each, list entry from a text setting in the form of graphemes, that is to say a sequence of individual grapheme symbols or text characters which may correspond to the letter representation or to a standardized letter representation, for example, is converted into phonetics and stored as phonemes, that is to say a sequence of individual phoneme symbols. In accordance with a conventional definition, a phoneme symbol is a sound representation which, in a language, forms the smallest meaning-differentiating unit, that is to say performs the same distinctive function.
This phonetized data list, which is in the form of phonemes, that is to say in the form of a sequence of individual phoneme symbols, and, in the sense of the selected terminology, a text-containing list entry that has been converted into phonetics, can therefore be used, during voice recognition in the voice-controlled user interface, to connect the word spoken by the user to a text-containing list entry and therefore to carry out the accordingly predefined functions. Phonemes are usually stored in this phonetized data list as a cohesive phonetic word without separate data fields and are provided, in particular, to the voice recognition system or its voice recognizer in the voice-controlled user interface, with the result that the latter can easily access the phonetized data list.
The user is accustomed to being able to very easily change or resort the graphical (textual) representation of databases in general, but in particular also names in telephone books or contact lists, in order to find particular list entries more quickly or to change the database to a form desired by the user. In the case of telephone books or contact lists, the sorting can usually be carried out in this case according to surnames or first names even if the invention is not restricted to this situation.
However, for voice-controlled user interfaces, it is very effective if the phonetized list entries have a certain length since a longer list entry results in a considerably better voice recognition rate. In the case of telephone books or contact lists, it is therefore effective and useful to input the first name and surname in combination. This also already applies irrespective of the better recognition rate because only the mention of a first name or surname can also result in ambiguities in the data list if a surname or first name occurs more frequently. The probability of such duplications is considerably reduced by combining the first name and surname.
This practice of combining first names and surnames, or generally a plurality of data fields of the list entry, in the phonetized data list results, in the event of a change in the representation of the data fields (also called resorting below), for example an alphabetical resorting from surnames to first names or vice versa, in the problem of the phonetics of the names which are required for voice recognition having to be newly created in the voice-controlled user interface. This can be carried out, for example, in a voice recognition system or the voice recognizer present in the voice-controlled user interface.
In the previous systems, the phonetics or the voice-controlled data list was/were newly created by newly phonetizing the reorganized data records. However, since phonetization is very computation-intensive and therefore resource-intensive, a noticeable latency or waiting time until the voice-controlled user interface can be used to recognize names from the data list, or more generally list entries, results for the user when newly phonetizing a larger data list. This is disadvantageous, in particular, because a user is accustomed to graphically newly sorting the name entries, under certain circumstances, immediately before use in mobile data devices having a database function, for example mobile telephones with a contact database, in order to have easier access to a particular list entry. If this is carried out before the user wishes to conduct a conversation using the car telephone and/or a hands-free device, the latency for newly phonetizing the list entries is very disruptive.